“Nothing else matters?” Salience differences between young and old

Abstract Younger generations’ attitudes and behavior increasingly diverge from those of older individuals. To better understand these political differences, it is relevant to analyze whether younger citizens also disagree about “what matters” in politics. However, this assumption of younger voters’ different salience perceptions has rarely been tested for a large range of issues. Thus, this paper argues that younger and older citizens differ in issue salience and specifically suggests that younger generations perceive cultural issues as more salient. To test this, I use novel survey data collected in Germany ( N = 2,509) and Switzerland ( N = 2,494) and apply rating tasks and a pairwise choice experiment, looking at young and older respondents’ salience regarding six political issue areas and a selection of 42 political issues derived from widely used voting advice applications in the respective countries. The results show that issues related to gender equality and certain age-related socioeconomic policies, such as rent prices, are more salient for younger than older respondents, whereas immigration is more important for older generations. This points to both value change and self-interest that divides salience assessments. Overall, these findings can help understand diverging political perceptions and the resulting electoral differences between younger and older generations.